Joey Potts, the artist who conceived of this quest, graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA in illustration and is currently a director of the Formula Werks art collective (check out their anti-NYC/LA, Chicago-pride T-shirts if you are, you know, into that sort of thing). He is also a founding member of the Cartel, a group of twelve artists also based in Chicago.

His exhibit, showing at the Bridgeport gallery until November 29, is quite exciting to see. Looking at the array of his larger pieces, you feel as though you are peering through little windows at a world that, in all of its absurdity, stares blankly back at you with no attempt at self-explanation. The smaller pieces, however, also in acrylic but done on squares of pine seem more along the line of Pokémon cards (and I mean that in the best way possible) which you might expect to turn over to find a creature description.

So I stood in front of these paintings and thought. And I thought. Trying to make sense of these strange things in front of me, I found my eyes wandering to the black ceiling of the gallery and then to the stark white walls and then to my friend sitting on the bench, patiently waiting for me to gather information.

First painting (“A Sudden Change of Events”): four leathery-skinned absurdities float down a river on what seem to be inflatable rafts. Leafless trees with ribbed, worm-like barks line the shore. The creatures stare uninterested as they float along. Are these beings that “share our dreams, our desires, our nightmares and downfalls, and our motivations to live”? Maybe.

Next painting (“Unanimous Exodus”): a pregnant, blue-striped Cyclops monster, her face caressed by feathery hair, straddles a bleak world, her bejeweled knuckles wrapped around a stark pyramid that rises from the ground. The eye on this pyramid seems to be producing the landscape behind the blue giant. An owl with a golden crown flies above her bulging stomach. Orange-red feather-balls lay at her feet, squinting. Is this painting a metaphor for that “intangible driving force that motivates one to live?” Maybe.

Next painting (“Converge”): what looks like some sort of strange Aztec design towering above green grass with a glowing red sun behind it. The eye at the top shines a beam of light off the top of the panel. The angular geometric pattern inside the pyramid folds out from the three eyes embedded in the colorful mess of points and lines.

It sounds fantastic, and it was, but I could not stop thinking about Potts’s artist statement. What amounts to the one-eyed pyramid from the one dollar bill having a fantastic trip through a fantastic land just does not live up to his artist statement. So you really should look at them, either on his MySpace or at 32nd&Urban (gorgeous building and great staff, by the way). It’s just that, Potts’ art is pretty cool to look at, but so was, oh, I don’t know, Hellboy.
32nd&Urban Gallery, 3201 S. Halsted St. Through November 29. Friday, 6-9pm; Saturday, noon-5pm; or by appointment. (312)846-6569

Best Co-Prosperity Sphere
Lumpen’s Co-Prosperity Sphere
There was a time when Bridgeport was not home to the crazy political art collective known as Lumpen (you know, like lumpenproletariat—get it!), but that was in the past, man, and now we’re in the future…kind of. After all, Bridgeport has been christened “The Community of the Future” by the Lumpen guys and gals, so it must be true. And let me just say, if the future looks anything like the Co-Prosperity Sphere, then count me in. It’s way better than that other, Asian thing (which was also very much in the past)—this Sphere involves crazy art shows with spacey lounges and cardboard box rocketship rides and people in costumes and free PBR. The Lumpen folks live upstairs, and downstairs they host a myriad of cultural festivities, like art shows and concerts and film screenings and general fun-having. If that’s the future, man, count me in. I love culture and space and beer and the future. And beer. Co-prosperity beer. 3219-21 S. Morgan St. 773-837-0145. www.lumpen.com/CPS (Gavin Fox)

Freshest Art Gallery
32nd&Urban
Now approaching its second birthday, this small storefront gallery at 32nd and Halsted retains a noticeably youthful feel. Although the space isn’t large—it used to be a barbershop—it managed to accommodate works by 59 artists for the recent show “Framed,” where curator Peter Kepha gave out wooden frames of different sizes with instructions to create “great, affordable art.” The result was a group of works ranging in price from $25 to $400. Right now the gallery has works by five female artists up, and next month Joey Potts will exhibit “Quest for the Cyclops Pyramid,” a series of whimsical-yet-badass paintings opening on October 18. The gallery’s creators are Bridgeport natives and maintain strong community connections amid the burgeoning local arts scene. This fall the gallery hosts a “Screen Printing 101″ course for all levels of experience. 3201 S. Halsted St. Friday, 6-9pm, Sat, noon-5pm. (312) 846-6569 (Sam Feldman)

Best Hot Dog Stand
Maxwell Street Depot/Morrie O’Malley’s (tie)
Bridgeport is a hotbed of high-quality hot dog stands (one of the best things the White Sox have ever produced, 2005 World Series title aside), and I couldn’t bring myself to choose between Maxwell Street Depot and Morrie O’Malley’s as the best because they both serve different purposes. Depot is bare-bones, but it does its job very well. A time-honored favorite of University of Chicago and IIT students, the 24-hour stand serves up hot dogs, burgers, polishes with masses of grilled onions, and their signature pork chop sandwiches to legions of drunk students and graveyard-shift workers at all hours of the night. Tip: Ask for the pork chop sandwich without the bone. If you’re looking for a slightly-less-greasy dog with more options at a reasonable hour, check out Morrie O’Malley’s. O’Malley’s specializes in char-grilled meat (but you have to ask for it) and ridiculous amounts of toppings—his signature dog comes with mustard, relish, chopped onion, sport peppers, a kosher dill pickle spear, a cucumber spear, tomato slice, and celery salt on a poppy seed bun. Just don’t walk in there with a Cubs jersey if you value your life. Maxwell Street Depot: 411 W. 31st St. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (312)326-3514. Morrie O’Malley’s: 3501 S. Union Ave. Monday-Friday 10:30am-8pm. (773)247-2700 (Katie Buitrago)

Best Place to Spontaneously Inject Your Body with Ink
Bridgeport Tattoo Co.
For many years, Bridgeport stood as a bastion of working class, blue collar life—and then Lumpen moved in and made it into an artsy hangout for the college-aged crowd. Okay okay, maybe that’s a little too simplistic a rundown, but the end result is the same. Case in point: the Bridgeport Tattoo Co. After all, can you imagine any of the older, Irish inhabitants that originally made up so much of the neighborhood’s traditional population indulging in such reckless, spontaneous behavior? I mean, have you seen the ink stretch on the saggy skin of the post-sixty crowd? It’s not a pretty sight—but I digress. For those more interested in living in the here and now, the Bridgeport Tattoo Co. can help ink all the snakes, lions, skulls and, of course, big-breasted women you want on your biceps, triceps, quadriceps, and whatever-other-ceps you’re interested in marking. Just look to the walls for inspiration—they’re covered in images of ‘em. Oh and ladies, while you’re there, make sure to hit up Jeannete for all your nail and eyelash extension needs. 3527 S. Halsted St. noon-10pm every day. (773)523-8311. www.myspace.com/bridgeporttattooco (Sean Redmond)

Best Place to Let Your Inner Nerd Run Free
Monster Island Toys
I’ll admit it: I’m a pretty big nerd. I love video games, and I used to collect action figures like they were going out of style. But judging by the stock of Monster Island Toys, you’d think that action figures were the hottest shit since the pink Power Ranger. The place has got shelves of everyone you could ever imagine shrunken down and molded into plastic—and while that may be a slight exaggeration, it still carries both KISS action figures AND multiple versions of Cher dolls. Also, shelves and shelves of different colored Godzillas and Ghidorahs. For movie and/or remorseless slaughter buffs, there’s Scarface and Kill Bill figurines! And old school GI Joe! The rabbit with big, pointy teeth! MADBALLS! But even non-nerds may find reason to rejoice—at least if you’re either a Bruce Lee or Boris Karloff fan. The former can enjoy the great selection of Bruce Lee tees, and the store carries stock of both Lee and Karloff DVDs. In fact, the selection of B-grade horror films is pretty mind-munchingly amazing. The Invisible Man? Check. Bride of Frankenstein? Check. Japanese versions of Godzilla vs. Mothra? Check. You may have reluctantly entered adulthood, but that doesn’t mean you have to let your inner child die—and hey, now you get the best of both worlds, because children aren’t allowed to enter the store without their parents! Suckers! 3407 S. Halsted St. Monday-Saturday 11am-6pm. (773)247-5733. www.monsterislandtoys.com (Sean Redmond)

Best Place to Hear the Delta Blues
Bridgeport Coffee House
Bridgeport, for all its quirky, diverse charms, is pretty rough around the edges. The neighborhood’s rundown facades belie interesting nooks and crannies, from old-school diners to vinyl shops, new age grottos and other peculiar institutions. But smack dab in the middle of it all lies the Bridgeport Coffee House, which fits in perhaps solely due to the fact that, with all its cream-colored upscale upholstery, it’s so different from its surroundings that it matches the neighborhood’s whole mismatched, hodge-podge feel. Not that that’s a bad thing. The coffee shop’s moderately-priced sandwiches and simplistic-yet-delicious milkshakes make it a sight for sore eyes (and taste buds) in the midst of Bridgeport’s vast hot dog and cheap-eats desert. And on Wednesdays at 6pm, you can catch Jimbo-Delta, aka “Jim Parks,” playing his unique blend of contemporary delta blues for the crowd. Oh, and the café also offers free wi-fi—just don’t be rude and use it while you’re getting your dose of Southern blues. 3101 S. Morgan St. Monday-Friday 6am-9pm; Saturday 7am-9pm; Sunday 8am-7pm. (773)247-9950. www.bridgeportcoffeecompany.com (Sean Redmond)

Best Way to Get Some God into Your Life
The Orphanage
It’s Sunday: the Lord’s day, the day of rest. But at 7pm in Bridgeport, in the First Lutheran Church of the Trinity’s former school building, up the 100-year-old staircase and into the old gymnasium/auditorium, one finds a different type of spiritual experience: the Orphanage. It is an institution that “pulls all the art orphans together,” explains one of the founders, Mark Wardo. It is a place to perform, a place for art, and a place to eat. (can you name me three finer pleasures in life?) Every Sunday for $10 flat from 7pm to 1am one can enjoy anywhere from four to six musical acts, a vegetarian meal and great coffee and tea, in an atmosphere that is both welcoming and fantastically funky. Upon entering, one is transported to a jungle of stick-trees balancing atop motley tables, their branches frosted with colorful gauze and Christmas lights and dripping with colors of braided string. Stained-glass windows and rotating artwork cover the wall and the stage is topped with a disco ball. The music performances range from folk to rock, indie to jazz, generally hovering on the more serene end of the spectrum. There are occasionally Saturday shows reserved mainly for the “screamo more hardcore bands”—God forbid we should be subject to such racket on His holy day. But the mix is eclectic and the setting an experience in itself. Bands and artists submit via MySpace or word of mouth; the Orphanage is always encouraging submissions from musicians and artists. 643 W. 31st St. Sundays, 7pm-1am. (773)807-5157. www.theorphanagechicago.org (Morgan Moroney)

A new exhibition in Bridgeport questions what is “natural”—the way we act, the materials we use, and our own domestic space and bodies. If becoming more “green” means becoming more natural, the show seems to ask: where did we get that idea in the first place? “Act Natural,” which runs through May 3rd, is a group show that collectively examines and discovers the parameters of the natural. While some of the works are made with “natural” materials, many of them explore, instead, the natural aspects of function and form—the organic synthesis available in different kinds of human behavior and belief.

“Act Natural” is hosted by the year-old 32nd & Urban Gallery/Space, which hosts some of the most eclectic and interesting art on the South Side. The gallery, which describes itself as “urban contemporary” in style, attempts to explore the concept of contemporary city life. It shows work of many genres and attempts to create, through a collective approach, a certain message about the many facets of art and life in Chicago, and perhaps the rest of the world. A former barbershop, with vintage tile floors and a high tin ceiling, the gallery offers an example of how such an “urban contemporary” style might look.

On Fridays, when new shows open, the 922-square foot space is always packed with people—so packed, in fact, that viewing its exhibits becomes a lesson in crowd navigation and spatial manipulation. The gallery cultivates its community with a live DJ, generating a kind of excitement that doesn’t always exist at stodgier, more pretentious galleries. The gallery owners also gather ideas through everything from portfolio reviews to word-of-mouth to the web. These practices lead to a sampling of material that is fairly diverse—vases and benches can be art, as well as things that hang on the wall or dangle from the ceiling.

Some of the work in “Act Natural” employs the materials and swooping organic patterns of graffiti-style art. The show features a chair by artist Andy Hall, made from “maplex, felt, butyl rubber, aluminum posts, [and] walnut.” It looks both strikingly futuristic, like an item from a catalog in a decade or so, but also very familiar. Whimsical quilted work that reflects the human digestive system is hung beneath a series of light fixtures made from white umbrellas. Steve Haulenbeek, who designed the “Cumulous Light Canopy,” explains that the umbrellas in his work are used to “create a playful light rather than reference a dark and dreary day.” The light fixtures hanging from the gallery’s black-painted ceiling create a dramatic effect, but also seem somewhat precarious—while the “clouds” cast light, they are also looming. Another strange project is the “living canvas” by Michael Repkin, whose work focuses specifically on growth and development. The “canvas,” which features plants growing in panels on the wall, is one of the more obviously “natural” pieces. He writes that, through his art, “We are able to reconnect with the living world.”

All of the work hangs together on a somewhat conceptual level, with a diversity of interpretations and approaches confronting the very standards of what “natural” could mean. But in the relatively small gallery space, the work seems to press against itself. When we ask how we can improve our relationship with nature, perhaps submersion is the answer. Rather than trying to “go green,” we can always investigate what “green” means.

32nd & Urban Gallery, 3201 S. Halsted St. Through May 3. Thursday-Friday, 5-9pm, Saturday, 12-6pm, or by appointment.

Best Time Travel
Bridgeport Family Restaurant
The Bridgeport Family Restaurant is easy to get to on public transit, and on the main drag in Bridgeport (which is incredibly White Sox heavy—check out the retro sports bars around here if you want to). But when you step into this diner-style establishment, it might as well be a few decades before you were born. The hours aren’t great, so you have to go for breakfast or lunch. But you’ll get plenty of bread and extensive menu options, along with the chance to feel like a character (though hopefully not the star—that would be a little too weird) in a David Lynch film. Order anything you’d like, and make sure to appreciate the engraved glass lighting fixtures and comfy booths. 3500 S. Halsted St. (773)247-2826. (Rose Schapiro)

Best for Chilling Out
Bridgeport Coffee House
This is a true community-oriented coffeehouse in one of the most interesting areas of the South Side, even if it is a little off the beaten path. The Bridgeport Coffee House has bake sales for community groups, and sponsors benefits for the local PTA. It has yummy pastries, hot sandwiches, and a full drink menu. In typical coffeehouse fashion, its walls are decorated by local artists, but the work tends to be tasteful and fun. The owners roast and blend their own coffee beans, which you can buy wholesale. But more importantly, they claim to know all of the regulars’ names. The storefront is beautiful, and the neighborhood is homey, very comforting and chill. The coffee shop itself feels very relaxed (though if you want to stress yourself out by contacting the outside world, they also offer internet access). 3101 S. Morgan St. Monday-Friday, 6am-9pm; Saturday, 7am-9pm; Sunday, 8am-7pm. (773)247-9950. www.bridgeportcoffeecompany.com (Rose Schapiro)

Best Place for Produce
Egg Store
Though Hyde Park Produce may not leave much to be desired, check out the Egg Store in Bridgeport for more cheap fruits and vegetables. It’s located in the same mini-mall-type complex as a Unique Thrift, a McDonald’s (Express!) and various other bits of local culture. Egg Store will give you tons of produce for a very low price, though its fluorescent interior can be a bit disconcerting. All the better to see the flaws on your tomatoes, my dear. Make sure to bring a big bag that you can stuff your bounty into, or you may find that you’ll have a problem on your trip back to Hyde Park. 3008 S. Halsted St. Monday-Sunday, 8am-8pm. (773)284-8704. (Rose Schapiro)

Best Art Gallery That You Might Miss
32nd & Urban Gallery
32nd & Urban is committed to being a South Side gallery, and to bringing more obscure art to a beautiful (actually incredibly well-done and unique) gallery space. The owners attempt to represent the greater Chicago area, and focus on the urban landscape of the South Side. Though 32nd & Urban is a little bit of a hike from Pilsen’s attempt at the Second Fridays scene, it’s definitely worth a visit. They open a new show every month, and aside from compelling solo work, they curate interesting group shows with fun themes. Bike over there if you’re in Pilsen or don’t mind a good ride; you won’t be disappointed. Since October is Chicago Artists’ Month, keep on the lookout for the special events that will be going down as well. 3201 S. Halsted St. Thursday-Friday, 9am-5pm. (312)846-6569. (Rose Schapiro)

Best Place to be Overwhelmed
Zhou B Art Center
It’s 87,000 square feet of completely overwhelming (no, seriously) space devoted to art. It houses more than a dozen galleries and studios, which make it great to just walk through. Check out everything from fine arts to photography to graphic graffiti, and marvel at the possibilities of the absolutely gigantic space. The Zhou brothers, who run the space, are very South Side-centric (they’re really into Bridgeport, even though their international fame takes them to places like Germany, Switzerland, and China), and the art center is meant to be as well. The art center has a decent café, and also hosts a handful of events that tend to be a good amount of fun, despite the lines that accrue to get up and down the super thin staircases. It’s also a great music venue, and hopefully in the future the space will be used to its fullest capacity and Chicago’s art scene will rock like never before. 1029 W. 35th St. Sunday-Thursday, 4-10pm. Friday-Saturday, 4-11pm. (773)523-0200. www.zhoubcafe.com (Rose Schapiro)

Best Vintage Diner
Ramova Grill
“The only diner left on the South Side where you can take your coffee mug outside while you smoke,” says the owner’s son of the Ramova—a small breakfast and burger spot in central Bridgeport. Famed for their chili, this diner’s been around since 1929 and comes replete with red vinyl stools at the counter and high-backed booths. Besides the chili, the BLTs have been written up in the Sun-Times and orange juice comes fresh-squeezed at your beck and call. Populated primarily by regulars, you can enjoy the local old men gossip while you fill up on coffee and eggs. Lumpen ringleaders can also be spotted on the scene. Breakfast served all day. 3510 S. Halsted St. Monday-Sunday, 5am-8pm. (773)847-9058. (Emily Bernhard)

Best Place to Join the Clergy
Monastery of the Holy Cross
Benedictine monks host bed-and-breakfasters in this quiet nook of bustling Brideport. “Monks have been welcoming travelers for centuries and you will be given the same warm welcome,” says their website. Piping hot muffins and sourdough pancakes smothered in hot maple syrup grace their breakfast menu. Go with a friend and each pay seventy dollars a night; go with three friends and it’s forty-five dollars apiece. Though not a standard item budgeted into a student’s expenses, it might make for a relaxing weekend away. If you are broke, the friendly gang of monks chant the divine office seven times a day with sanctuary-acoustics, and services are offered throughout the week. 3111 S. Aberdeen St. (773)927-7424. (Emily Bernhard)